Football rankings: The new Mercury News top 10

Putting together this week’s rankings wasn’t nearly as challenging as last week’s, but we still had some decisions to make.

Valley Christian watched its record fall to 3-5 after yet another heartbreaking loss, this one last Friday to Serra. So, we had to decide what to do about the Warriors, who play host to Bellarmine College Prep on Friday night?

We also had to decide whether Los Gatos still belonged in the rankings?

The Wildcats (4-4) have only been beaten soundly once this season, two weeks ago against Palo Alto. They’ve lost close games to Mitty, Oak Grove and Milpitas.

Ultimately, here is how we ranked them:

1. Bellarmine College Prep (7-1): Bells can clinch WCAL title with win at Valley Christian, which probably won’t be easy.

Refresher: Teams eligible for the Merc top 10 come from leagues predominantly based in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. West Catholic Athletic League teams are eligible because more than half of the league comes from the two counties in our coverage area.The rankings are chosen by the Mercury News high school staff.

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There has been a lot of chatter about the Mercury News favoring the WCAL too heavily. But given the CCS landscape of A-plus, A, B and C divisions, you cannot rank a team based on its record.

It’s unfortunate for teams that are having great seasons in the lower divisions and got me to thinking about next season:

What if we had two rankings — one for the A-plus and A leagues and one for the B and C leagues?

We’re not going to make a decision right here, right now.

But I wouldn’t mind getting some feedback in the comments section below as the season winds down.

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We will again be tweeting scores on Friday night, from the office and out in the field.

Darren Sabedra

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Hi, you incorrectly included St. francis instead of Paly at end of post as one of teams Los Gatos has lost to this season. Also, I think it’s a great idea to have a separate ranking for the B and C league teams

Darren Sabedra

Trish, thanks for pointing that out. It’s fixed now — and thanks for the rankings feedback.

Coach Reed

Private schools in one group public schools in another with separate rankings based on size. They don’t play by the same rules so you should not rank them together.

likeitis

Darren – Ranking the B and C’s is a great idea. The NCAA has D1, D2 and D3 rankings. IMO CCS has done a good job of distributing their FB crowns from the Open level to division 4. Unfortunately teams like VC fall into the D III bracket in their down years, and then dominate it in the play-offs. If you ask VC they would probably rather play up. It is what it is Other than that small and lower level teams do get a chance a title.

If you do the B and C level rankings would consider including all of CCS? Recently I have looked up past all Mercury teams – they once included all of CCS. Not sure why the Merc decide to go to county

One point for other bloggers – if the Mercury decides to take on this obviously huge additional amount of work please realize they have and appreciate their efforts – understanding that rankings are just that, an informed although subjective opinion – you have to win on the field to earn league and CCS trophies.

PS – not at the parade?

likeitis

“for a title”

joeb

@Darren,
I dont think it makes sense to have separate rankings for A/B/C divisions. It is not like NCAA Div 1, 2, 3 – where each division has their own playoffs (or BCS). The strength of the division based on the League Classification Index determines which division is in which level. If you want to find way to rank teams to get more exposure to other programs, maybe using size of school or waiting until the CCS does their new conference realignment in a couple of years, and then you can have separate rankings for each conference.

likeitis

sorry for my typos

likeitis

Really Joeb – tell us how a C or for that matter a B team can get into the Open? So A/B/C leagues make sense but not separate rankings. Until CCS does their realignment those teams have no chance to be recognized. While your WCAL teams (that don’t recruit wink wink) can be under .500 and still recognized.

MT

Darren,

Your calculations & story on the Open division regarding PA were incorrect. PA CANNOT get to 28.25 according to your #’s. The most they can get to is 27.75 even w/Gunn. Here is how it works out. 8 wins=16, schedule=9.5, Co champs=1.25 Gunn=1. 16+9.5+1.25+1=27.75. PA can get to 29 if they win the DAL outright w/Gunn. They would then be the DAL rep in Open. SI even @ 6-4 will have more than PA w/a minimum of 28. Mitty needs 1 more win to get into Open. If they are 6-4 then PA can overtake them. PA will only be in Open if Milpitas loses 1 or Mitty loses 2. Serra /SI winner will be the WCAL #2. All you can say about the PAL Bay is SHP, MA & Terra Nova all are in the league chase??? That’s it??? Why don’t you say that TN has the inside track if they win their last 2 (MA & HMB) because they would have beaten both MA & SHP. If MA beats TN then SHP has the inside track.

Points still on the table (6.25): Would get four points for winning final two games, 1.25 points for sharing the De Anza title with Milpitas and one point if Gunn wins El Camino Division.

Worst case: 22
Best case: 28.25

Darren Sabedra

MT,

These are the football bylaws on the CCS website for the 2012 season:


Multiply the number of wins by 2.

Multiply the number of ties by 1.

Multiply the number of games against “A+” league teams by 1.5

Multiply the number of games against “A” League teams by 1.

Multiply the number of games against “B” League teams by 0.5.

Multiply the number of games against a League Champion by 1*.

Award 3 points for being an “A+” League Champion

Award 2.5* points for being an “A” League Champion.

Award 2.0* points for being a “B” League Champion.

Award 1.5* points for being a “C” League Champion.

* These bonus points are pro-rated in the case of shared-Championship.

likeitis

Does PA get another point for playing Milpitas as the DAL co champs

likeitis

or half point since its co

Darren Sabedra

@Likeitis,

I don’t believe so. PA would get 1.25 points for splitting the 2.5 “A” league title points with Milpitas. Therefore, I don’t believe Milpitas and Palo Alto would get an additional 0.5 points for playing against each other (splitting the 1 point for playing the DAL champion).

likeitis

interesting – there would be one point for one or the other if not tied while the championships points are divided in half. without the tie there would be 3.5 points awarded to them tied just 2.5

likeitis

does LG get .5 each for playing PA and Milpitas

jumper

If the El Camino is only a C league, that be the 1/2 point difference between 28.25 and 27.75 for Paly.

calidad

I am a bit confused – If Mitty and SI win one game each then they will play in the open division playoffs? If Mitty loses to SI next week, will they qualify? If not, would they be eligible to play in the DII? Can Palo Alto Play in a DII playoff? I am not sure which division they are in.

FootballFriday

Milpitas, Paly do get points for play each other as co-champs. And LG get .5 each too for playing each team as does the rest of the league. Here is the link to the season summary form on the ccs website.

You are right I believe that Palo Alto can max out at 28.25, but they will not get .5 points for playing Gunn (a C league). That .5 point will come from play co-champ Milpitas.

joeb

@likeitis
“Really Joeb – tell us how a C or for that matter a B team can get into the Open? So A/B/C leagues make sense but not separate rankings”
Any B or C league team is eligible for the Open, it is about how many points they earn following the CCS point system. While highly unlikely, if for example a B division team goes undefeated plus in their out-of-league games schedules the A&A+ champions, they may have enough points to be moved into the Open. Not saying this is likely, and frankly dont see B or C division teams scheduling that way, but it is possible. The leagues that have been classifed as B/C divisions were done to help with determining who should make the CCS playoffs by providing a strength of schedule guide. B and C teams can play any level of team during the season, and once in the playoffs there is no distiguishing between A/B/C teams. If you want recognition for teams that are not competitive with the top CCS teams, why not have divisional rankings – that way every division can get represented in the rankings?

likeitis

Joeb – tomAto tomato. Currently CCS teams during the season are not divided into divisions persae. VC, PA and LG have played from D3 to the Open play-offs during the past 7 years based on their power points and CBEDs. You know that.

Some C teams play A teams but usually that’s because of league by-laws, like in the SCVAL – each DAL must schedule one game with an El Camino opponent.

Otherwise most A teams don’t want to play B or C’s – it doesn’t help them.

The A/A+ have 5 spots automatically in the Open. Leaving 3 at large seeds. For a C or B team to get one of those all of the second/third place A league finishers would have to have down years. A B league champ that scheduled all it’s non-league games against 3 separate A league champs and won all of their games could get 31.5 power points. The Open 3rd at-large seed this year is projected at 29. A C team with that schedule and won all could get 27.5.

We all know it would be impossible to get that kind of schedule. One could win the lottery – its possible.

Seaside is close this year, unfortunately they only scheduled one A champion

likeitis

FootballFriday – Nice calculator. You may have posted this site before. Here it is again. It has projected CCS brackets for all 5 divisions with their projected power points and CBEDs

Thanks to FootballFriday pointing me to the CCS power point calculator I realized I was wrong about a C league champion topping out at 27.5. A C team that wins all 10 games while scheduling the WCAL champion, DAL Champ, MBL-GAB Champ and BVAL-MH champ would get 30 power points and get into the Open. Like I said Joeb – better chances of winning the lottery

FYI this year they they would have to of beaten Bellarmine, PA or Milpitas, Palma and Oak Grove. A non-league schedule and feat that would be tougher than the Open itself.

joeb

@likeitis,
A couple of years ago a ‘B’ division team was ranked, Willow Glen. They had a great QB and solid team. Seaside would likely be ranked this year if MN would cover the region. Which takes me back to original topic, why have separate rankings for B&C division teams – those that are really good already get ranked.

likeitis

@Joeb – No they don’t and why not rank by classification? Most of these public schools can not compete with privates. One could argue recruiting or not but the fact is privates get the cream of the crop. And they have the best coaches too – which they pay for. With money, coaches and the ability to accept students from any where they are clearly in a different class.

Maybe rank private verses public

MT

Darren,

Trust me I know the cifccs scoring rules & scoring power points. You are off. Here is where you made the mistake. Gunn is NOT a B league team they are in the El Camino which is a C league. PA does NOT get .50 for playing a C league team. Look @ my #’s in the previous post. They are correct.

Let me clear something else up for all of you also. You do NOT get to split power points as a DAL co league champ (1.25 & 1.25), then get another .50 for playing a league champ. If Milpitas & PA both finish @ 8-2 Milpitas & PA would get 1.25 each. That’s it! All the other DAL teams would get .50 from both Milpitas & PA. Milpitas is the DAL rep in Open because of their 24-19 victory. PA would then be in D1. Their enrollment & the others that would make it in would dictate that.

Paly and Milpitas get points as co-champions and for playing a co-champ

As a consolation prize ypo are right about Gunn being a C team however if they are league champs, co or tri then there are points

likeitis

ypo/you

Darren Sabedra

MT,

Yes, the El Camino is a C league. Turns out, I was looking at a 2012-13 CCS league classification form for another sport. Had no idea the El Camino could be a B league in one sport and a C in another. I am checking with the CCS on whether Milpitas and Palo Alto, should they share the league title, will get the 0.5 bonus point for playing against the league champion (in this case, the game against each other).

calidad

So Darren, Do Mitty and St. Ignatius have guaranteed spots in the open division? If not, would they be eligible for the DII or DIII games?

Darren Sabedra

Calidad,

It depends on which teams get in because after the Open Division bracket is filled out, the rest of the divisions go strictly by enrollment, according to this paragraph in the CCS football bylaws:

“Once the eight (8) “Open” Division teams have been determined, the remaining qualifying teams will be placed in Divisions I, II, III, and IV, as determined by order of enrollment (largest to smallest), utilizing the previous school year’s Grade 9-12 CBEDS enrollment figures.”

MT

Darren,

It can be confusing @ times. League classification for football is different than other sports. The #’s also change weekly. Trust me I know. As far as the extra .50 goes for playing a league champ that only applies to the teams who are NOT league champs. The 2 league champs split the greater # of points. (2.50 vs. 1) They do not get rewarded twice. 1.25+.50 . Big games this week that go to deciding the last few spots & seeds. TN vs MA, Gunn vs M Vista, P Hills vs Pioneer. Going to be a good few weeks.

likeitis

Calidad

This site has a projected view for CCS bracket with a write up on each school and their possibilities. Here is their write up on SI and Mitty

St. Ignatius – Games remaining with Mitty and Serra. Even if they lose their last two games they are likely to be in the Open Division with 28 points. One win will put them at 30 points.

Mitty – Games remaining with St. Francis and SI. They are currently sitting with 27 points and will likely have to win one of the remaining two games to make the Open Division and get up to 29 points. If they make the Open Division they will likely be the 6 or 8 seed and play on the road. If they miss the Open Division, they will be a top seed in DII.

BTW should SI not make the Open their CBED (enrollment) is 1451. Borderline D2/D3

likeitis

MT – where does it say that and they are not league champs – they are co-champs. It doesn’t make sense that co-champs only get 1.25 in championship points while the league’s bottom team gets .5 twice or 1 point in championship played/won points. If such a rule exists tri champs would get less than the bottom teams – it does not make sense.

If there is such a rule its a very bad one. Co-champs deserve to split all the points that would have been award both teams not just one set of them.

likeitis

What the CCS by-laws say is league championship and games played against league champs are pro-rated. It does not say co or tri-champions must select the higher of the two

A league champ can not get points for playing a league champ because they didn’t play themselves. However co-champs and tri-champs probably played the another co or tri-champs in their league and deserve those points just like the non-champs.

The CCS Football Season Summary Sheet is set up to allow for this and has no disclaimers that says a team can’t submit a sheet stating they played a co or tri champs in their league while being a that league’s co or tri-champ

With MT’s logic Non-champs in an any league would get 1 point while tri-champs in an A would get .833, in a B .666 and in a c .5

CCS has it’s faults but I can’t believe they would allow that to happen

Darren Sabedra

OK MT,

You’ve got all of us trying to figure this out. I heard back from the CCS office this afternoon, and here was the response with regards to Milpitas and Palo Alto getting the 0.5 bonus point for playing against each other:

“It is (the staff’s) opinion that they should get the 0.5 for playing each other.”

So with that bit of information, that brings Palo Alto’s max total to 28.25 as it aims for an Open Division spot.

calidad

Thanks to likeitis!

likeitis

@Darren – Thanks. Its doesn’t make sense that co-champs and tri-champs would be penalized for not winning their leagues out right. The biggest no brainier is seen with the tri-champs. With MT’s logic/view they would get less that non-champs. So if tri-champs get both to make it right then it makes sense that co-champs would too. Don’t know why MT doesn’t see this, he usually is sharper and loves Milpitas – lol

likeitis

@calidad – NP – I think FootballFriday was the first to point us to that site (could be wrong)

likeitis

that/than non-champs – really should wear my readers more often – lol

FootballFriday

Hate to say I told you so MT but does not really matter as I just heard that Toga pulled off the upset 44-36 vs Milpitas. Palo Alto is in the drivers seat again.

likeitis

Sorry MT but I have to ask what happened to Milpitas this time, not at full strength, kicker sick, unforced errors?

A down week for you – wrong on championship points and Milpitas has an “off” night

likeitis

@FootballFriday – Winning at Santa Clara is not an easy task. I believe SC needs the win to get in (they are borderline).

Winning at SC gets Paly the honor of playing the toughest set of WCAL in recent years (IMO). SF and VC should be favorites in D2 and D3

My Two Cents could be right but for the wrong reason. Its not that DAL is so “weak” Its the WCAL is that good this year. Otherwise its CCS is that weak this year (here comes sac_of_BS)

likeitis

@joeb – While researching power points and seeding I found a section in the CCS tournament by-laws (3.B.1.a (2)) regarding the Open format which made our discussion on B/C teams making it into the open a moot point:

The remainder of the 8-team bracket will be filled by entering, from the remaining A+ & A league teams entered into that years’ CCS Football Playoffs, the A+ & A league teams with the highest CCS Point totals as calculated in accordance with Section 5 herein.

So by rule B/C teams are excluded from the Open

MT

Darren & likeitis,

Yes, I checked into it too. When there is a co or tri league champ, points are split. Was wrong on that. Does not happen often where power points are split. Old bi laws were different. As far as Milpitas goes, mistakes hurt them. Up 14 w/ 2:39 left, fumble on own 30. Up 7 1:49 left snap over qb’s head TO on own 25. Tied 38 sec left returner down, but fumble called. TO on own 25. You tell me??? Even with the lessons learned from both Wilcox & Saratoga, Milpitas is just fine. It is all about how you finish. PA will not lose to Santa Clara, who will not make the playoffs. SC will finish @ 20. Not enough to get in. Burlingame getting the 4th AQ in the PAL Bay hurt them.

likeitis

Thanks MT – I say Milpitas had an OFF night with that many T/Os. Am assuming they were unforced verse how Milpitas forced all of Paly’s T/Os in their game. lol